Mentors behind the managers

Having
the opportunity to see the best amateurs in the nation play in the
Perfect Game All American Classic last weekend in San Diego proved to
be quite the preview for the 2015 MLB Amateur Draft. Nine pitchers
touched 95 mph or higher, including San Clemente, Calif. High School
senior Kolby Allard, who put his name in neon lights high above the
amateur landscape, partly because of a velocity bump to the mid-90s.
That’s
just one example of what occurred while the players were centered up
in the MLB Network lenses. But in spending time up close with the
prospects at the workouts, the meals, the awards banquet and the Rady
Children’s Hospital visit, it was easy to see there were many with
solid and diverse roots provided by families and coaches
at home.
And
if you coaches wonder how quickly the seeds you have planted, loaded
with baseball wisdom and guidance, might blossom, then many of these
athletes were an indication that there are plenty of coachable,
skilled players in the next generation. The instant coaching impact
had me wondering about the lasting stories that might be told about
player and mentor decades from now.
There
are several conversations over the years that serve to remind that a
youth/prep coach should never underestimate his ability to put a
stamp on the life and career of his players.
A’s
manager Bob Melvin may not be in that role at all if it weren’t for
Menlo-Atherton, Calif. baseball coach, Frank Betancourt. Like the
flame-throwing Allard may look into the memory banks to share about
San Clemente baseball coach David Gellatly, Melvin describes his
foundation as being laid at the exact same time, but in the mid-70s.
“(He
was) probably as impactful as any person in my life,” Melvin said
of Betancourt. “He was my high school baseball coach who took
serious interest in his players, not only on the field, but in their
education and what kind of people they were. When you look up
fundamentals in the dictionary, there’s a picture of Frank
Betancourt there. He would not allow his players to not go about
their business the right way, not to understand the game at all
levels and the intricacies.
“He
preached fundamentals from Day 1 in high school. I don’t see as
much of that nowadays as I did with him. And maybe he was one of a
kind, but (he) was the guy that kind of set me on a course of
understanding the game intricately at a very young age, and just a
first class person on top of it.”
The
man captaining the ship trying to sink Melvin’s in Oakland is
long-tenured Angels manager Mike Scioscia. Journey with the baseball
lifer before he was paid to play and you’ll find a man that helped
push him to professionalism, while providing perspective that has
Scioscia still active in the amateur game.
“It’s
funny the people you cross paths with in your life and one of the
most influential was my high school baseball coach Ace Bell from
Springfield High School in Delaware County, just outside of
Philadelphia,” Scioscia recalled. “Mr. Bell was a guy who played
minor league baseball in the Giants organization and even played one
year with Willie Mays in Trenton. Mr. Bell always had such great
insights not only that could make you a better player, but a better
person.”
“Being
around him at such an influential age, from the time I was 14 until
the time I was 17, really prepared me for what minor league baseball
was going to be, the ups and downs and the challenges. I just
remember him saying, ‘Hey, you have talent. You have to believe in
it, trust in and the sun is not going to shine on you every day’.
It’s really the reality of not only baseball, but of life.
“I
think that mentoring that goes on at the amateur level is important
for everybody. Not just for the youngster that’s going to become
the collegiate or professional player and eventually make it as a
major league player, but that youngster that might be playing his
last baseball game in his senior year of high school, and that’s
it. That mentoring that goes through the high school level is
priceless and for me to be around a guy like Ace Bell is something
that was a gift that I’ll carry my whole life.”
Melvin,
much like many of the game’s current top prospects, also won’t
forget to quickly mention his American Legion coach in Palo Alto,
Calif., which is akin to speaking of today’s travel and club teams.
“Tom
Dunton kind of took it to another level, Melvin explained. “Frank
Betancourt was a guy that, you know we probably could have had some
better teams and went a little farther along, but Frank Betancourt
let everybody play. We had good teams, but everybody played on Frank
Betancourt teams. If you were part of the program, you were going to
play.
“I
think that was great at the high school level that he incorporated
everybody. Tom Dunton kind of took the competitiveness to another
level in legion. I really learned to compete and how important it was
to compete at a high level through the course of a complete
game. Whether you were ahead, whether you were behind or whether it
was close, it was important that you gave 27 outs until the game was
over. Those are two very important people at a young age of my life.”
So
if you find yourself wondering who may have a hand in the pennant
race decades from now, you might want to ask the guys driving the
vans full of players to a cross-town high school battle on a the
diamond.